Reddit CEO admits to changing posts made by Donald Trump fans

Steve Huffman said his colleagues were angry with his actions and he "most assuredly won't do this again".IANS | November 25, 2016, 14:41 IST

Reddit's Chief Executive Officer, Steve Huffman has admitted editing posts made about him by Donald Trump fans on the site after some users started insulting him for banning a community board dedicated to discussing a conspiracy theory involving Hillary Clinton.

BBC on Thursday quoted him as saying that rather than change the meaning of the posts, he simply redirected abuse targeted at him to the moderators of the r/the_donald thread.

His admission follows news that the site had banned a community board dedicated to discussing a conspiracy theory involving US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The "Pizzagate" conspiracy alleged that Hillary and her campaign chief were involved in a child abuse ring operating out of a pizza restaurant in Washington DC.

The manager of the restaurant said he has been receiving death threats and has reached out to social networks to help him stop the conspiracy theory from spreading.

"It's been a long week here trying to unwind the r/pizzagate stuff," Huffman said in a post on Reddit.

"As much as we try to maintain a good relationship with you all, it does get old getting called a pedophile constantly.

"As the CEO, I shouldn't play such games, and it's all fixed now."

He said colleagues were angry with his actions and he "most assuredly won't do this again".

Many Reddit members were furious that the website's chief executive had edited messages, and accused him of censorship.

Huffman co-founded Reddit more than a decade ago.

He left to work on online travel service Hipmunk, before returning to Reddit as chief executive last year.